Posted on 09/24/2009 9:35:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
VICTORVILLE, Calif.—Ever since it became clear that Barack Obama would be our next president, there's been an unprecedented run on guns 'n ammo in America. Partly this is fueled by fears, some justified some not, that Obama will outlaw a broad range of assault weapons; partly it's fueled by socioeconomic factors, racism and right-wing hate.
Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in Victorville, a desert exurb of Los Angeles that boomed faster with the subprime craze than just about any city in the country and fell harder when it all collapsed. Today, guns and ammo are in short supply here in Victorville. But there is an abundance of despair and paranoia.
There are a lot of guns around these parts, too. The barren desert surroundings are perfect setting for gun enthusiasts of all stripes, and it feels like most everyone here owns a weapon or two. And why not? You can drive 15 minutes beyond city limits, turn off onto a backroad and start unloading to heart's content. That is, if you are able to get your hands on some ammunition.
In Victorville, every single gun store is out of all types of ammo, all the time.
"I went through 11,000 of 9mm rounds in two days. That's an awful lot for a little shop like this. I would never ever stock that much," an owner of a gun shop tucked away in a corner of a strip mall told me. "All the people that make ammunition are making more than they have in any other year, but they are still running out."
Excessive target practice did not even come close to explaining the insatiable demand for ammo. Even the local Wal-Mart, the pioneer in demand-driven distribution, can't keep up, selling out as soon a new shipment comes in.
Rumor on the street has it that Wal-Mart has sold more ammo year-to-date than any other year in its history. And while Wal-Mart's media relations department would not confirm or deny that information, citing proprietary concerns, all one has to do is visit their two stores in the area.
Aside from a couple of boxes of buckshot, shelves in the guns-and-ammo department stand perpetually empty—a weird sight in a store otherwise overflowing with goods. According to a salesperson at their Victorville location, ammo that arrives overnight will be picked clean long before lunch hour rolls around. The only sure way to buy is to call as soon as the store opens at 9 a.m. and put what you want on hold. That is, if a shipment comes in that day at all.
Charles Drew, owner of a gun store in Victorville, told the press that even people that don't own guns are hoarding ammunition "just in case." It is a trend recorded nationwide.
The Outdoor Wire, a news service for the outdoor industry, has named Obama its "Gun Salesman of the Year." Mandatory FBI background checks for firearms sales have jumped by 50 percent in recent months, while ammunition manufacturers have seen record sales. Olin Corp., maker of Winchester ammunition, upped its first-quarter sales this year from $110 million to $133 million, giving it a much-appreciated 20 percent boost in profits.
Ammunition has been so scarce lately that some police departments have been forced to scale back on target practice, fearing that they won't have any bullets left for real police work.
And the thing to remember is that bullets aren't cheap. A box of 25 9mm rounds sells for about $25. More specialized ammo easily sells for $2 a bullet or more. But in these difficult times, cost does not appear to be an issue, even in the flat-broke city of Victorville.
Victorville is set on a flat stretch of the Mojave Desert among Joshua trees and tumbleweeds 100 miles east of Los Angeles. Fertilized by land speculation and the riskiest of loans, blocks and blocks of beefy McMansions started sprouting here in the last decade, baiting low-income families with the glorious dream of homeownership.
Priced just right, Victorville was a testament to the accessibility of the American Dream for all, regardless of wealth. And in 2007, it became America's second-fastest growing exurb, doubling its population to just over 100,000 in six short years.
There was no local industry to support such growth, and despite the two-hour average commute, each way, people flocked here from all over Southern California, eventually making Victorville more ethnically diverse than Los Angeles.
But the egalitarian dream didn't last. Prices have now dropped to pre-2000 levels. Whole neighborhoods of beefy homes, some of them half-built, now stand abandoned, eerily blending in with the barren desert landscape.
The unemployment rate in Victorville doubled in the past year, spiking way above the national average to between 12.5 and 18.5 percent (the national and state averages are 8.5 and 11.2 percent, respectively).
Violent crime is on the rise, too. Victorville saw a 7 percent jump in 2008, while some surrounding areas clocked as much as 13 percent more homicides, rapes, robberies, assaults and motor vehicle theft.
There are two sides to Victorville, the old and the new. Before its stint as a dirt-cheap suburban paradise, Victorville was a tiny God-fearing community populated by white conservatives living an isolated frontier lifestyle with heavy military overtones.
One of the local World War II-era bases had shut down more than a decade ago, but a Marine Corps base remains operational and is still one of the biggest employers in the area. Until the housing boom flooded the area with urban homeowners, 1 out of every 6 adults here was a veteran.
The influx of new—and mainly nonwhite—homeowners has been a cause of racial tensions here for more than a decade.
"The chemistry out here is perfect for more and more racism," said Tom Metzger, the infamous leader of the white supremacist hate group White Aryan Resistance who lives in Southern California, about the Inland Empire back in 2005. "You've got all these nonwhites moving here from Orange County and Los Angeles trying to flee the crime perpetrated on them by their own kind in their ghettos, and when they come out here, they're basically shoving forced integration down the throats of the whites who have traditional claim to this area, and that is provoking a negative racist reaction among whites, as it damn well should. It's great!"
What has been simmering conflict may soon be bubbling over the edge. There is almost a sense of inevitability of a spike in hate crimes.
"In the past month, there was only one reported hate crime. But you have to wonder how many go unreported. I think a lot, " a local crime beat reporter told me. "Just go to our comments section and read what people are saying. There is definitely a perfect storm building."
In October 2008, two teenagers belonging to a local hate group shot a black man in a liquor store parking lot. Schools have been dealing with an uptick in race-based conflicts and shooting threats. Earlier this month, one of the cars of a Jewish family was trashed inside and out, its engine destroyed and swastikas painted on its doors and hood.
As I'm writing this, news is coming out that police arrested a group of six local skinheads from Hammerskin Nation for attempted murder, witness intimidation, conspiracy to commit murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Hammerskin Nation has been stepping up recruitment lately, as has every other known extremist group across the nation.
On April 15, about 200 people, mostly white, showed up at Victorville's Tea Party. Some were not hesitant to vow that they'll take violent action if "Osama's" socialist policies continued unabated.
To the protestors, the economic crisis had exposed what their government had become: a big, meddling bureaucracy that had little regard for personal liberty. Socialism was a'coming to the USA, and it was hell-bent on exploiting honest, hardworking people like themselves—whether its being forced to bail out delinquent homeowners or having your jobs given to illegal immigrants.
While President Obama was talking about raising taxes, redistributing wealth and carelessly spending hundreds of billions of dollars on his banker buddies, their boys were coming back home from Afghanistan and Iraq thankless and jobless. Much of their anger was aimed at new residents: Hispanics, Asians and blacks.
Nowhere is this animosity more visible than on the local Internet forums. Here are just two of dozens of similar comments posted by readers on an article about Victorville's spike in crime rates by the Daily Press, a local daily:
married wrote:
Sheriff's can't pinpoint why there's an increase in crime? Geez even an idiot can tell you what the problem is – low-income housing, Juan and Shanana moving up here to get little Julio and Tyron away from the gangs, but not realizing they are the gang, and welfare money running out in the middle of the month. I can't wait to hear the remarks I'm gonna get on this comment. 5/2/2009 7:59:03 PM
sandynator wrote:
No surprise here, what do you expect with all the social engineering we had via Barney Frank and the dems, too many gangbangers got loans and moved on up to the high desert. Now we the citizen pay the price while the fat cats like Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi and BO laugh themselves silly. 5/2/2009 9:59:36 PM
The day after the nationwide Tea Party protests, channeling the spirit of Timothy McVeigh, the Department of Homeland Security released a perfectly timed report warning law enforcement agencies that America's shifting political landscape, the economic downturn and influx of returning vets all combined for a perfect storm likely to cause a swell in right-wing extremist organization activity.
The report cited evidence that extremist groups are stockpiling weapons and ammo in preparation for...something.
Republicans went on a partisan offensive slammed the report as an affront against our troops, but even a cursory look at Victorville shows how close to the bone the report really gets.
Bookmarked to read tomorrow
If you live in California, I have 4 words for you...
Big Reno Gun Show
Nah, not expensive. You can buy a single shot 12 guage for 60 bucks. And the ammo is cheap too, less than $5.00 dollars for a box of 25 rounds.
Looks like you know little about guns, but that does not suprise me in the least.
Do you own even one? My guess is not.
Struck a nerve did I? Well you can rest assured that my community and neighborhood is populated by very like minded individuals, and we will never allow anyone, including any government authority, to remove our freedoms, or the enjoyment of our property in safety.We don't have to organize. We all believe in the same things. And we are all only a phone call and 10 minutes away, under arms if necessary.
Call it whatever you want. Whether you like it or not, Americans all across this country are ready to do the same. Thats the true meaning of the so called run on guns and ammo. We will never become subserviant to a state, Utopian or otherwise. The state exists to serve us and do as we direct in preservation of our security and personal freedoms. And we will do that job ourselves if the government fails in that duty, willfully or otherwise, as is our right and sworn duty as citizens of this Republic.
And so far the Obama Junta is implimenting policies that will cause government to fail in its duty to preserve our security, privacy, personal freedoms, and enjoyment of property.It doesn't take rocket science to figure out what could be next.And the lefties know that and are shivering already.They know where the line is and what it will cost them if they cross it.And if they want to test our resolve, let them. As a nation, its patriots are ready.
Now go and piss off in whatever cowardly closet you might have wandered from.LOL.
357 Sig in my Glock is my main carry. It’s loud, and I mean loud.. Mule kick, but you know it’ll be effective. It’s a solid order of magnitude of power over the 9mm.
That’s weird. You must be kidding. So you caught me. You are right. I own no guns and in fact, never shot one.
Too Scary. Loud noises you know. Guns are are dangerous and I don’t think anyone should have them.
They are assault weapons and designed to do one thing, kill people.
Honestly, why would you own a tool of violence? You should be able to talk your way out of violence. If not, call a policeman. They are the only ones who should have a weapon that visits so much violence on humans.
A piece of paper could really inflict serious damage to the human body and in the right hands, well, who knows. A thousand paper cuts could result in so much damage that no one would ever consider challenging you.
Seriously, your intellect is as hollow as an empty pickle barrel. If you pound it hard enough it cause some real damage to a persons ear drum.
The only thing that surprises you in the least is your abilty to shoot your mouth off with out csusing serious damange to yourself.
Anyway, your right, I don’t have any guns anymore. I was fishing last year and decided to clean my collection.
Sadly, a huge wave washed over the boat and my guns were thrown to Davy Jones Locker.
Now, I lie awake at night, in wistful prayer that the whole event never happened.
As far as being a coward, you are so perceptive and I shudder with shame, as my stories are mere imagination of competence, ability and shame that I am less than capable of performing the simplest task of shaving without cutting myself and damning the razor companies for making such a dangerous and freely available weapon of self destruction.
I will pray for courage, though it will likely never come.
Thank you for keeping me real and honest.
/s
That was the longest sarcastic post I’ve ever read lol.
There is perfectly good 9mm FMJ ammo available for $9.00/50.
The stuff for $25.00/25 is HP High End Self Defense Ammo:
Corbon, Gold Dot, Golden Saber, Etc.
My kid bought a Saiga automatic shotgun, Mosin and Dragonov from the former Soviet block. Had to pick them up at local gun dealers.
Then he ordered ammo for the Mosin and Dragonov from the same.
Ought to see the U.P.S. guy when he delivers two thousand rounds of ammo with soviet markings all over the wood boxes weighing a hundred pounds or so.
And its legal.
Me? I just like my little Kimber.
I had to stop, go to the bathroom and take a candor7
Not all would be doing it for that reason, at least not me. I would be doing it for protection. Guns are expensive, not everyone has one, but the ammo can be used by others in the neighborhood to protect the neigborhood, as well as barter for things they need that neigbors have.
I got no further than the first line of this moonbat article. I stopped reading when I saw that the increase in ammo sales were caused by “racism and right-wing hate.”
I thought Mother Jones went out of business in the 1970’s.
If I want to read a left-wing rag, I’ll pick up a copy of “The New York Times.”
Since i'm still unpacking to some degree from moving back in December, I was down in the basement emptying a few boxes and came across a little gold-mine. Six boxes of .308 match grade ammo, a couple of boxes of .45 ACP, an box of about 3k .223 brass, and another box of about 5k .308 brass from match grade ammo. Needless to say, it's a little trip to range this weekend. One thing I always keep a stock of, 30-30 and .22 ammo. Most people seem to ignore it. I also picked up one of the GAMO air rifles that will shoot about 1400 fps. A nice little gun for small game.
The Germans are a prime example of what happens when you underestimate a desperate and determined opposition. All anyone has to do is look at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during WWII.
“.....Victorville was a tiny God-fearing community populated by white conservatives living an isolated frontier lifestyle with heavy military overtones.”
....classic sentiment from a Jewish leftist panty waist...it’s got their fear mongering words in a neat little package:
God fearing
white
conservative
isolated
military
Poor Yasha gets an F for her crappy organization of her screed, her spell checker gets a B for catching 535 spelling errors in the first paragraph and my puppy gets an A+ for peeing on target all over this pap.
If Yasha the Yahoo wants to see high altitude nose-bleeding, bug-eyed racists, go visit the Congressional Black Caucus and its parent grand poo-bah, the democrat party. The strident screech sheet she writes for gets an honorable mention in the Racist Hall of Fame. Julius Streicher Awards will be presented by an Obama impersonator.
And bring your own hose and dogs, Yasha. The paint and brushes will be there to scrawl your beloved swastikas.
are moat people distant cousins to trolls ???...8^}
if you aint got launchers, ammo aint ‘barter’...
Winchester White box used to go for $9.35 for 100rnds.
The price has more than doubled, if you can find it.
I reload, so I save some money, but not so much anymore.
This primer shortage reminds me of 1993.
I would guess that would be the case for many, unless you are in a tightnit group where everyone has their place and function intact already......
The entire article = whitey is an evil racist.
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